Yang Qinglin

Yang Qinglin (杨青林 in Chinese) (1894--1992), Grandmaster of Hebei style Xing Yi, student of Zhang Zhaodong. When he was a child, his parents sent him to Zhang Zhaodong's martial art school in order to make him more disciplined in life. His parents signed the official contract with Zhang Zhaodong(founder of the Xingyi Bagua Palm system) to ensure that Master Zhang would feel confident to treat their son seriously by removing any further legal responsibility. Later on, he worked as a caravan bodyguard at Li Cunyi's Wantong Bodyguard Company (Li was the third generation of Xing Yi style, one of the most prominent Xing Yi masters back to that time)

He mastered Xing Yi and Xingyi-Bagua Palm system and promoted these styles. After Zhang Zhaodong passed away, he began to teach in Tianjin, the hotbed of Hebei style of Xing Yi.

In teaching and practicing, he emphasized that the original Xing Yi practice should focus on the internal power training and the martial application. He believed that, by doing so, would be the best way to respect and carry on his master's teaching. He always reminded his students to follow the path of those masters who have got their skills tested in the real combat situations.

To make his practice, he also studied the traditional Chinese medicine. Also, Li Cunyi and Zhang Zhaodong presented to him some herbal formula for treating martial injuries, which he had used them to help many people in the community.

In his family, there has been a family tradition, that the whole family will choose one child to carry the martial art practice. To transfer the family knowledge to the later generation, he became Master Hai Yang’s first teacher in Kung Fu training. Also, he was open-minded in martial art practice. He would introduce his grandson, Master Hai Yang to keep learning from different masters of different styles and schools when he thought it was necessary to his grandson’s practice.

He maintained a very healthy lifestyle in his entire life. He did not stop training even when he was very old. Therefore, he still could demonstrate Xing Yi practice with power and speed in his advanced age.